International

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly said that he wants a firm security guarantee from the United States as a precondition for the North to abandon its nuclear weapons.

Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported on Sunday that Kim made the comment during his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, citing a diplomatic source familiar with the summit.

The daily said that Kim told Xi that his country could completely abandon nuclear weapons if it receives from the United States firm security guarantees and rewards for its nuclear abandonment.

Kim reportedly said that he would also propose that the United States and North Korea normalize their diplomatic relations and that Washington set up its embassy in Pyongyang during his planned summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

During the summit with Xi, Kim is known to have said that the issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved if South Korea and the United States take "phased and simultaneous steps for peace."